I was thrilled to wrap up 2015 with a really fun assignment for the awesome folks at W42ST. I loved collaborating with them last summer on a cover for their publication, which features all kinds of great things to see & do in Hell’s Kitchen, so was super excited when they called about another project.

They wanted to feature a gate folded map in the back of the magazine, pinpointing landmarks as well as some the best shops and restaurants in the area. It was super fun to dive into the research and take a little walk down memory lane of some of my favorite haunts in my old stomping ground. They hope to use this map in each issue moving forward, and possibly add featured sponsors to the map each month.

I lived in Hell’s Kitchen for 3 years, so the neighborhood and this magazine have a special place in my heart, which made the job extra fun! The January issue is out now—available in coffee shops, bars, restaurants, and other places throughout Hell’s Kitchen—and the online edition can be seen here.

I always love working with my old friends and colleagues at Penguin Books, so when AD Irene Vandervoort asked me to take on this fun middle-grade cover I jumped at the opportunity!

This is a funny and sweet middle-grade read about a southern girl, with a passion for cooking, who feels like a “leftover” from her divorced parents’ marriage but eventually comes to realize her very important place in her new blended family.

After exploring lots of concepts—including graphic, type-driven, and photographic approaches, we decided to play off the “leftovers” title and I created this fun typographic illustration. The book pubs next spring, but is available for pre-order now.

I was super excited when Fordham University asked me to create an illustrated headline for their Summer 2016 program. The tagline is “Think Summer, Think Fordham” and will be used on all the marketing materials for next year’s session.

They were really fun to work with, giving me a lot of creative freedom with how to interpret the slogan and represent both city and academics in a fun way. Here are a few of my sketches along with the final piece.

Another fun food-related project came my way recently; I was commissioned to hand-letter a bar menu on a large mirror of Cafe Tellulah, a French-style bistro on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. This one was a fun challenge! It was a very large mirror (5′ x 12′!) and the execution had to be completed in one day, during off-hours. But very cool to have the opportunity to create something on-location like this.

It’s always so hard to get good mirror photos because of reflections, and even more so here because of the size, but here’s the sketch/mock up I created along with a few shots—and a video clip of me in action!

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to create some hand-lettered branding for a middle grade series by celebrated authors Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder. It’s always a pleasure to work with the creative folks at Random House, and was fun to work my lettering into the illustrations of Harry Potter artist, Mary Grand Pre. Both books available now on Amazon.

I always love working with the creative team at Sourcebooks, and this cover was no exception. I was asked to redesign the cover for Pippa Morgan’s Diary, the super-secret diary of a 10-year old girl with a BIG imagination who’s life is just not going well at all! This is an already established series in the UK, so I was required to create the art in a style that reflected the character and interior illustrations, and the AD had specific concepts to follow. But it’s a super fun format and a hilarious read, so dove right in and had a lot of fun with it! Available to pre-order now on Amazon.

I’ve been a resident of the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in NYC for the last 3 years, and absolutely love it—such a vibrant neighborhood and great community! So I was thrilled when w42st Magazine, a free publication & online resource featuring all the fantastic things there are to see, do & eat in Hell’s Kitchen, asked me to create the cover for their “Summer Fun” issue. They gave me tons of creative freedom with this, and I loved illustrating something I have such a personal connection to.

The issue is out now! The online edition can be seen here, and printed copies are free in coffee shops, bars, restaurants, and other small local businesses & residential buildings throughout the Hell Kitchen area.

After having so much fun designing my own wedding invitations, seating cards & other details, I’ve been dying to do more! So I was thrilled when my friend, Lindsay, asked if I could help her with a few special touches for her big day.

She had a gorgeous garden themed wedding at the elegant Winterthur Estate in Delaware, and her lovely invitations from Minted had a soft, simple look featuring calligraphy. So she wanted to reflect that in a few other details for the day of.

Her first idea was to use a large mirror in place of programs at the ceremony. I hadn’t seen this idea before, but loved the elegance and uniqueness of it! She purchased a 20″ x 30″ rectangular mirror and I hand-lettered all the bridal party names. This was definitely a new and fun experience for me to create—and I thought it looked lovely set up where guests arrived for the ceremony.

I also did calligraphy for her seating cards and table numbers—I loved the way she presented them, as a small “flower bed”—it fit in so perfectly with the theme!

Lindsay and her husband, Matt, share a love of music and had song lyrics incorporated into their ceremony and a few other places throughout the day. So I loved her idea to letter one of their favorite love-themed lyrics on canvas totes as the welcome bags for the out of town guests. And I loved creating this piece! She had them printed by a local vendor, and I think they came out great!

Was fun to be a guest and get to see all the details in the beautiful setting, and an honor to get to be part of this wonderful couples special day in this way! Congrats to the newlyweds!!

I had the exciting opportunity to create the cover illustration for this month’s issue of Public Power, a trade publication of The American Public Power Association, with national and international distribution. The AD had the concept pretty solidly in mind, and it was right up my alley! I love drawing type by hand, combining styles in an illustrative way to represent the article’s themes.